The Superior Court of New Jersey, Atlantic/Cape May Vicinage is recruiting volunteers from the community to serve as members on the Vicinage Advisory Committee on Minority Concerns, an advisory and community education body of citizens who work with judges and staff.

Committee members advise the assignment judge and trial court administrator on how the Judiciary can improve efforts to ensure fairness, impartiality, equal access and full participation in court events and proceedings.

The committee organizes and hosts events such as information sessions, workshops, Law Day celebrations and other activities so that residents can learn about how the courts work and about their rights and responsibilities when they are involved in the court system.

The committee also works to eliminate bias at all levels and in all functions and capacities in dispute resolution, support service, and court administration.

Committee members are appointed by the assignment judge, generally for two-year terms. The committee meets about four times a year. Meeting locations rotate between the three courthouses in Atlantic and Cape May counties.

Every vicinage Advisory Committee on Minority Concerns is part of a larger network across the state. The committees frequently interact and exchange ideas and strategies for success at conferences and statewide meetings.

In 1992, the New Jersey Supreme Court appointed the Supreme Court Committee on Minority Concerns and charged it with monitoring the implementation of the court approved recommendations of the Task Force on Minority Concerns.

The Task Force was the first such group appointed by any court in the country. Its existence and its pioneering work helped trigger what has become a nationwide movement to identify and eliminate discrimination against minorities in the justice system.